Buying Smaba comes down to a few checks you can do from the product page. Everything else is preference. A pointed toe adds visual length but takes half a size. Anything over 8cm needs a platform or you are buying a taxi. The groups below run from the decision that matters most to the ones you make afterwards.

What decides this is heel height, toe shape and how the weight sits. Everything else is preference. Two from the first group show the range: Behno's REV FLIP FLOP BAG PEBBLE AVOCADO at $195, and mansurgavriel.com's Cintura Sandal - Jasmine at $270. The first is the easy entry point; the second is where the money goes. A pointed toe adds visual length but takes half a size. Anything over 8cm needs a platform or you are buying a taxi. A higher price mostly buys materials and finishing, and occasionally it buys nothing at all.

Match the heel to the hem, then stop thinking about it. From the second group, Sperry's Drizzle Mid Calf Rain Boot ($100) is the one that earns its place, because it works in more than one context without being restyled. The third group is smaller and deliberately narrower, heels, for the decisions you make after the main one. None of this needs the whole group. One piece from each is usually enough.

There are 20 pieces here from 17 brands, $45 to $545, all in stock when this was written. We would not buy all of them, and neither should you. Sperry's Sperry x BEAMS+ MIL CVO Sneaker at $45 is the low-risk way in, and Mansur Gavriel's Ruched Loafer - Oxblood at $545 only makes sense if this is a category you already use constantly. Read as a set, they get you close to Smaba without any single purchase being compulsory. Nothing here is included because it is famous, and price is not used as a proxy for quality anywhere on this page. If you take one thing away: one considered purchase beats three hedged ones.